This invention relates to cabinets for secure storage of paper documents and other materials that need to be safeguarded, either for reasons of privacy and confidentiality, or to protect high-value items from pilferage and theft. The invention is more particularly concerned with a secure file cabinet with locking file drawers, in which the drawers and/or compartments can be locked and which provide for access only when authorized.
The invention is directed to a locking file cabinet, with pull-out file drawers (which may be either “vertical” or “lateral”), with electro-mechanical latching of the file drawers, including servo-motor release of the drawer latch mechanism and sensors to detect whether each drawer is open or is pushed in and latched shut. The invention is more particularly concerned with a secure file cabinet with limited access and with accountability of access, and which may assist in the prevention of fraudulent access and reduction of errors, e.g., errors in confidential customer or personnel records. Some of the file drawers may feature compartments with individual locking lids with servo-motor controlled release of the lid of the compartment for which access is required. The secure filing cabinet may also feature a key-based lock over-ride.
Current locking file cabinets require a key lock for the cabinet or a key lock on each drawer. These file cabinets may have a vertical locking bar within the frame of the cabinet. The vertical locking bar is lifted with cam action if any one drawer is opened so that the remaining drawers are held locked, and the other drawers cannot be pulled out until the open drawer is pushed back in. Other locking filing cabinets may have a combination lock and an interlock system with cables that are moved to permit only a given drawer to be opened and accessed.
Favorably, the secure filing cabinet should have drawers that lock automatically when pushed in and closed, and where only one drawer may be opened and pulled out at a time. This both provides document security, and also prevents instability that may be caused by having the weight of more than one filing drawer extended out in front of the base of the cabinet. Other features should include software-controlled access, i.e., password and ID protected, which may use some combination of barcodes, RFID chips, biometrics, magnetic stripes, or another security technology. The cabinet should provide a full audit trail, i.e. complete history and information of who used a file, who had access to the file, when it was removed and when returned, and where a file is or was. This may include bar code technology to scan a file in when placing it into the filing cabinet and to scan it when it is removed. A centralized networked database may keep track of the stored files in a cabinet, and may keep current records of stored files over multiple cabinets, which may be linked together via i2c or daisy chain technology. A compartmentalized drawer (or drawers) within the cabinet may be used to give access one at a time to multiple sections or compartments in the drawer.
These features can be manufactured into the cabinet, but the filing system may also provide for the secure locking feature to be retrofitted into an existing filing cabinet, for example, to upgrade the cabinet using a separate bolt-on remote lock, and thus provide not only electronic remote locking and unlocking, but also options of bar code scanning and audit trail to the upgraded filing cabinet.
One drawer of the secure filing cabinet may be used as a secure waste bin, to store confidential documents prior to shredding or other destruction, so as to have the advantages of electronically limited access and audit trail. This functionality may be carried out with a bolt-on or stand-alone module (with drop-in slot) and with locked servomotor access (with pass codes) to retrieve the documents for shredding/destruction. The module may contain a removable bin.
It is desirable to maintain a record of which what records are stored in each filing cabinet, and in which drawer, or in which locking-lid compartments of which the drawers, and to unlock the one specific compartment lid for a given record or document item when it is needed to access the same.
The cabinet may also have the added functionality of limiting access to certain drawers or certain compartments within drawers to specific users, keeping other users out of these storage areas. This can be used to keep information, for example, information of or concerning celebrities or politicians, out of reach of the majority of users, and restricted to those employees only that have the appropriate clearance to access these files.
These secure cabinets may incorporate USB or i2c connections and may be capable of IP addressable configurations, for access over a network, to a personal computer, tablet, or hand-held device. The electronic latching mechanisms, and compartment lid lock/unlock mechanisms may be favorably powered by low-voltage DC, e.g., 12 volts, so that no dangerous voltages are present that may shock or injure the authorized personnel accessing the filing cabinet. Battery power is an option.